With ‘Mortal Kombat II’ bringing the fatalities to theaters, Matt Konopka looks at why Paul W.S. Anderson’s 1995 remains a flawless victory.
Video game feature film adaptations are more popular than ever. Already this year, we’ve seen the release of movies such as Exit 8, Iron Lung, and Return to Silent Hill, with Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil and others on the way. But this wasn’t always the case. The granddaddy of films based on video games, Super Mario Bros., released in 1993. It was followed by Street Fighter in 1994. In the early ’90s, these types of movies were unheard of. But they marked the beginning of a new era, expanding on the popularity of gaming, which has only continued to grow since then. And in 1995, we were gifted what I consider to be one of the greatest of them all…Mortal Kombat (1995).
Created by Ed Boon and John Tobias and published by Midway Games in 1992, the original 2D arcade version of Mortal Kombat became a phenomenon. It spawned numerous video games, comics, action figures, and more. The franchise is still running strong, with Mortal Kombat II (the fourth live-action film) set to release this month. A violent fighting game about Earth’s greatest fighters competing in a tournament against villains from another realm, everyone’s familiar with Mortal Kombat even if they’ve never played any of the games. You’ve all heard the names Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Raiden, etc. As a kid, I was obsessed with them all.
I still have vivid memories of sitting in my parent’s basement with my Super Nintendo. Hands sweaty holding the controller as I fought my way through Kano, Goro, Shang Tsung and the others. I mained Scorpion, because how am I not going to main a ninja from Hell who shouts “Get over here” as he catches players in the throat with his badass spike on a chain? Granted, I was never very good. Button mashing and sitting in the corner doing leg sweeps was my game. When it came time to “finish” the other player, I hoped I was in the acid pit so I could knock them into the deadly green goo because I was terrible at executing fatalities. But I had fun.
Courtesy of Warner Bros.
The sophomore feature of Paul W.S. Anderson (Event Horizon), Mortal Kombat released when I was eight. Since video game movies were still a new thing, no one—including my friends and I—expected much. Thirty years later, filmmakers still struggle to adapt gaming experiences into satisfying movies. Sitting down to watch it then, I didn’t know it would become the pinnacle of what a video game adaptation should be. It upper cut my expectations and knocked my lights out in the best possible way.
Penned by Kevin Droney, Mortal Kombat follows Liu Kang (Robin Shou), wracked with guilt over the death of his brother at the hands of the soul-sucking sorcerer, Shang Tsung (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa). Seeking vengeance, he decides to participate in Mortal Kombat, a tournament between the mortals of Earth and the fighters of Outworld. Gathered by god of lightning, Lord Raiden (Christopher Lambert), Liu is joined by tough as nails cop, Sonya Blade (Bridgette Wilson-Sampras) and as Hollywood as they get actor, Johnny Cage (Linden Ashby). Outworld needs to win ten tournaments in a row to take over Earth. They have won nine. Together, it’s up to Liu and the others to defeat Shang Tsung…or watch their planet fall to the cruelty of the sorcerer and his master, Shao Kahn (Frank Welker).
Courtesy of Warner Bros.
One of the biggest mistakes a video game adaptation can make is to overcomplicate things. Sorry to say, but I’m looking at you, Mortal Kombat (2021). Anderson’s version, however, makes the brilliant decision to keep it simple and stupid. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t recall much “story” from the original game outside of the basic premise. The filmmaker could easily have sought to over-expand on the mythos and flood the film with an obnoxious sea of exposition. Thankfully, he and Droney looked at a game about fighters in a tournament and said, we’re going to make it about fighters in a tournament. See how easy that is?
Inspired by Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon—one of the ultimate martial arts tournament movies—Mortal Kombat keeps the story small while still managing to inject life into fan favorite characters. Johnny, Sonya, and especially Liu, are all given rich backstories that flesh them out from 2D fighters into fully dimensional people. Johnny fights to prove he’s not a coward; Sonya aims to take down Kano; And Liu quests for vengeance against the soul-stealing asshole who killed his brother. When I think about these characters now, these are their stories. Anderson’s film didn’t just bring the game to life, but deepened the lore that fans still attribute to MK today.
Courtesy of Warner Bros.
And then there’s the fights themselves. What separated Mortal Kombat from other fighting games at the time was the fact that there was a strong horror angle. These aren’t just skilled fighters against skilled fighters…these are humans going up against monsters. Whether they be black magic sorcerers, demons out of Hell, or the four-armed behemoth, Goro (voiced by Kevin Richardson), the villains of Mortal Kombat are inherently frightening. Anderson gets that. Though the film leans heavily into the absurd humor of it all, the filmmaker incorporates a sense of terror wherever possible.
Nearly every scene of Anderson’s film relishes in gothic horror. You have the dragon ship that arrives at the pier, drenched in fog and looking like a one-way ticket to your worst nightmare. A castle setting coated in mist and cobwebs, with statues of great warriors and creatures alike scattered throughout. When our heroes enter a fight, we share their fear. All qualities that every live-action Mortal Kombat film since has lacked. But it’s important, because that terror is what young gamers felt going up against these enemies themselves. One of many ways that Anderson recreates the MK experience.
Courtesy of Warner Bros.
Some may complain that Anderson’s Mortal Kombat goes lighter on the violence than you’d expect. I’m not one of them. Yes, the games are well known for their gruesome fatalities and gallons of blood. But the film more than makes up for the lack of gore with jaw-ripping practical effects that made my monster kid heart skip a beat. Scorpion’s unmasking to reveal a skull-faced nightmare surrounded by flames and oozing gooey lava from Johnny’s slashes would’ve been cool enough. But the creation of Goro is simply stunning. Anyone who looks at the character and says he appears fake here is a dirty liar. I don’t make the rules. Goro brings true intimidation to the film, a product of peak ’90s practical effects…making it all the more satisfying when Johnny delivers his iconic fist to the nuts and brings the OG game’s most difficult boss down.
Mortal Kombat reeks of elements you rarely see today. I love Lambert’s performance, but there’s no way in any realm that a white guy would ever play Raiden now. The forced romances between Liu and Kitanna, as well as Sonya and Johnny, are exactly that. When Sonya begs Johnny not to fight Goro, you can practically hear the groans of fans everywhere at the sudden shift in feelings between the two. Speaking of Sonya, she spends most of the movie harassed by lecherous men, from Kano to Johnny and Shang Tsung. That might be less obnoxious if it weren’t for the fact that she becomes a damsel in distress in the end, sexy prisoner outfit and all. Ahh, the ’90s. What a time you were.
The thing is, though, Mortal Kombat the game is itself a ’90s time capsule. So, in a sense, this is all just Anderson’s way of staying true to the game. That’s my excuse, and I’m sticking with it.
Whether or not Mortal Kombat is considered a flawless victory…well, that depends on the viewer. If you grew up with it, you likely adore it, and if not, well, maybe you enjoy the new films more. But as a video game adaptation, Anderson’s movie remains a total knockout punch. It delivered what fans wanted while expanding on the mythos. It recreated the sometimes frightening, always thrilling experience of playing the games. And it did so with style and energy that has kept it standing in its place atop the tower of video game movies for decades. So few get it right. Mortal Kombat gave audiences a finishing move that has rarely been topped.
Did I mention that MK also features one of the catchiest theme songs of all time created by The Immortals? You’d have to be one of Shang Tsung’s undead minions to not want to pump your fist every time it plays during the film. Why the new movies tease yet barely incorporate it, I’ll never understand.
